Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-04-30
JoURNAI-DEyoTED
MARTINsBURG, W VA, SATURDAY, APRIL 80, 1887.
HOW DOLLS ARE MADE.

The Manufacture of the Aristocratic
Paper Pulp Doll.
The doll fraternity may be divided into
several races, differing in development
and in artistic execution. There is the
old fashioned wooden doll, whose shrunk
en- shanks are sometimes covered with @
shredly garments. This is the poor girls
doll. Then there is another wooden doll,
but more polished, whose limbs and
trunk are padded and covered with white
leather. Sometimes this species has a
porcelain head on it. There is also a
dummy doll, made of India rubber,
whose sole virtue is that it is unbreak
able.
Then comes the aristocratic doll, which
is made out of nothing else but paper,
with porcelain head, but it is quite
superior creature. This is the doll which
is made IN Paris to-day. Hundreds of
thousands of them are exported every
year, and sell at anything from 80 cents
up to $500. It is not many years since
this new race first appeared, but it has
already driven its predecessors out of the
market in Paris. Here Is how it is made.
The paper pulp is first worked into a
fine mortar. Then the dolls are nodded
bit by bit. One workman win mold moth
ing but arms, another the feet, and so on.
When the trunks and limbs are shaped
and dried they are painted. They get
five coats of whitish paint, and are then
vanished. After this elastic bands are
inserted in the arms and legs to keep them
together. The joints are made workable,
and into whatever position you may put
an arm or leg it will stick there.
The head is more difficult to make than
fhe body. 1t is as already observed, made
out of porcelain. After being nodded
the heads are put into an oven and are
burned for twenty-seven hours. Then they
are rubbed with pumice stone and pol
ished. Then they are painted, and the
painting and coloring of dolls head is
a ticklish business, requiring, as the
French say, the utmost delicatesse. The
dolls eyes are made on the same principle
as artificial human eyes. Its hair is wool
from wild goats in the mountains Of
Thibet.' To turn out one of these dolls
thirty different persons are required.
In order to find out who buys these
big dolls, which are too big for children
anu UOO cXpeIlSlN0 lOT OIuAldTy ptOpl6,
called oil NJ. Juneau, the inventor or
father OF the doll have described, who
employs 500 workmen and women in his
factory, and number of outsiders be-
sides. After giving me some general
particulars about the doll industry he re-
marked
''The very largest dolls, about three
and half feet in height, and costing 20
francs ($15) without clothes, are gener-
ally bought by shopkeepers to put in
their windows and serve;to show off boys
and girls dresses. Then young ladies of
10 and 20 buy dolls to keep in practice
dressmaking with them. They are also
used for ornaments in houses, because a
well and artistically made doll is a
thing of beauty. Which are the greatest
doll buying countries? Well, after France.
Russia or the United States go in most
for dolls de luxe. We also send great
many to Spain, but very few to England.
The English do not spend much money
on dolls. Paris Cor. st. Louis Repub-
lican.